


Saving Colors

by xenoshadel



Category: Devilman, Devilman (Anime & Manga), Devilman Crybaby - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Comfort, F/M, Mentions of Death, akimiki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-17 03:33:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13650567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xenoshadel/pseuds/xenoshadel
Summary: Rewrite of episode 9 where Akira reaches Miki in time. Miki's life was another color in the grey world, one that needed to be saved and Akira hopes they can save more together despite the insanity around them.





	Saving Colors

“What does it mean to be human?”

A clear question with answers blurred together. Simple words asking to define what came to be impossible, or so it seemed to be with how humanity acted as a whole. Miki heard the question when she ran, and she thought how similar it was to the time someone asked why she ever ran. Humans weren’t meant to run, but it was something she liked to do and it was the thought that maybe—just maybe—moving forward will change _something_.

To run, to move forward, to be colors in what was otherwise a grey world.

Yet it remained grey the further she ran and heard multiple gunshots behind her. She gritted her teeth, hoping that someone will have an answer to that question and she strained her ears. Maybe someone will have an answer that could also change something and add more colors to the world, if not just clear a bit of the insanity.

“Save Miki Makimura!”

 _Bang_!

Unless those colors were red and yellow, glistening and vibrant from the bodies they left. While those colors were temporary when they stained all around them, the physical bodies were forever lost without a beating heart. Disappearing like rainbows in the sky: once beautiful, but never meant to last long for eyes filled with hate.

“Miko…”

Miki almost choked on her words. The ground became blurry the harder she ran, her feet pounding as she wiped tears with her sleeve. She clenched her hand as she ran, hoping that she can go a little farther—just a little more for her to raise her hand and pass the baton. It was the same run she had always ran, where she’d wait until Miko passed the baton and sprint once it’s in her grasp. The race still needed to be finished, she told herself, and determination kept her stride steady.

 _Bang_!

Miki gasped aloud at the sting in her leg. A bullet grazed her thigh and nearly made her lose her balance from the shock, and her stride wobbled when she forced herself to keep running. To keep the baton in her hold had always been her top priority, whether the race was real or not, and she raised her hand when angry shouts behind her grew coherent.

“ _Akira…!_ ”

Her eyes widened when a van sped down the path and stopped in the distance before her. Miki blinked to see clearer, running faster when she caught sight of Wamu at the passenger seat of the van. She exclaimed happily, and her heart would’ve leapt in joy if it wasn’t for the thud of a fallen body when the door swung open.

A terrified gasp caught in her throat once Wamu’s body toppled from the van and the shouts grew louder, then a few men scrambled out with knives glinting in their hands.

There the world slowed and Miki heard nothing more than the muffle of cries yearning for her blood to spill. She turned around to see the mob catching up to her, and climbing up the hill will only be a race for either side to reach her first. The sting of her leg, the heavy sensation in her hand even when nothing was in her grip, Miki’s scream was silent as she ran and hoped to spread the distance between her and an oncoming man with a knife.

She had to pass the baton… she had to! Empty words she tried to convince herself as she ran, even as she felt the footsteps behind her. Still she didn’t think about the flash of knives all around her nor the insanity, but the only person that helped her run.

“ _Miki!_ ”

A break in what felt like a fuzzy world and Miki glanced around, only to have the wind knocked out of her when a force crashed into her body. Little breath to scream or to thrash around, but the shouts resounded and her feet suddenly felt lighter.

“There’s the devil!”

“After him!”

Fur tickled her nose and gunshots rattled her thoughts, and while all resumed to chaos around her, Miki heard a low “ _hang on_ ” when a large arm held her body. Realization then hit her after a member of the mob cursed at them.

“He’s got the witch!! Shoot them down!”

More gunshots came to life and Akira winced when he jumped over the hill, keeping his body low to run with a careful hold on Miki. Headlights flashed from the oncoming cars but couldn’t outshine the crowd of angry eyes. If hate fueled their bodies, then they were no different from the corpses they stepped over and fired at the one who saved more lives than them.

Feet pounding against the gravel, the buildings towering over him, no other life seemed to breathe in this part of the city. Miki shuffled and turned her head to look up at Akira. “Akira!”

“Miki… are you alright?”

He jumped over a damaged car and widened his eyes when Miki gasped after his landing. Quickly glancing at their surroundings—and hoping the shadows will remain empty—Akira halted his sprint and gently brought her to the ground. He noticed blood on her left leg and Miki nearly fell forward when she put weight on both legs, her hands clasping onto Akira’s when he caught her.

“You were _shot_?” he asked, his words soft in horror.

“I’ll be okay, Akira,” Miki said. Her shaking voice didn’t convince him, but she still mustered a smile when she looked up at him. “So this is what you really look like as a… devilman.”

He cracked a small smile back. “Yeah, this is my body but my heart is still human and _mine_. And”—he crouched down—“I’ll need you to ride me until we get out of this part of the city.”

Green eyes curiously glanced at the flutter of wings on his head and Miki nodded, her hands still holding onto Akira as he guided her to sit on his back. She bit her tongue once she felt the sting in her leg while adjusting herself, and she held onto him when Akira resumed his sprint.

Faint gunshots were picked up from faraway buildings and Akira grimaced. “Maybe Ryo can help us. I’m sure he will—he has to.”

“Ryo?” Miki asked. “You mean you didn’t already find him?”

Akira paused. “I was looking for his hotel until I found a crowd of humans throwing rocks at people they tied to stakes—at _humans_ they thought were devils. I couldn’t fly away from that, so I tried to stop them even when they threw rocks at me. I wouldn’t kill a human, I never will and yet they were willing to kill me after I said I had the heart of a human.” His breath hitched at his next words. “I don’t understand why they hate each other so much, why they’re so willing to destroy everything for… what exactly? I just… Nothing is gained from all this.”

The houses they passed blazed brilliantly, bringing more life to an abandoned settlement in the grey world. Miki caught sight of a scrapped building and fire devouring much of the framework until, much like the sanity of a human, it couldn’t withstand the fire with its collapse. An explosion of broken glass and forgotten memories, all to later become dust and rubble once the flames were satisfied.

“I knew your heart hadn’t changed, before and after you became a devilman,” she softly said. “You… cried for them, didn’t you?”

Akira felt his throat close up. “Yeah, I did. And just like everyone else, they laughed and mocked me until… a boy came up to me and you know what he did? He _hugged_ me. Another kid went to hug me, and then more of the others stopped to drop their rocks. I hugged everyone there, and at that moment I felt peace and had hope. Hope that maybe everything will be okay in the end, whenever that will be.”

“Until?”

“Until Koda attacked me. I didn’t understand why because he was a devilman like me. We both have human hearts, but still he wanted to kill me. Those humans I hugged were dead, if there weren’t just a few left, and… well. I realized I had to come back to you when I took care of other demons.”

Akira jumped over a ditch in the road, his frown deepened at a sudden thought. “Miko and Wamu… the others?”

He felt Miki tighten her hold on him. “Wamu… Gabi… they didn’t make it. And Miko? She… She died protecting me, Akira. We ran the same path we always ran, and I’ve always known that she loved me. I loved her too, it didn’t matter whether she was human or a devilman but her heart was always true—just like yours.”

The city degraded into a wasteland, where bodies and rubble littered the area and vegetation lost its color. The grass was grey, the roads were black with burn marks and dried blood, and Akira narrowed his eyes at the sight.

“Good people died… so many good people for no reason, humans or devilmen. No one could explain why to me other than they thought they were doing the right thing,” he said. “I guess I will never know what the right thing was all along, other than trying to stay alive.”

Green eyes grew heavy at his words. “Akira… You're more human than them, and I don't understand it. Why do they keep fighting and killing when your tears were always for _them_?” Miki wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, her voice breaking. “It's not fair. We're all humans at heart and yet… and y-yet...”

Akira listened to her, unable to respond when tears welled in his eyes.

They continued in silence, trying to ignore the waste around them and piles of bodies stacked near playgrounds and buildings with removed names. Names of people reduced to dirt and blood, forever forgotten and replaced with hate by those they thought they loved. Love was nonexistent, save for those who still fought for their lives and the good in a human heart—whoever’s body it was in.

Tears fell from them, adding a little life to the world before the ground swallowed the drops eagerly. Akira slowed his pace and looked around when they reached a hill. Miki felt his body shudder and she spoke softly, “Akira?”

“It’s… hard to run for long when you’re crying.” Akira raised an arm for her to grab onto his hand and guided her to the ground. He watched her slowly put her weight on her left leg, wincing slightly when she straightened her posture. “I’m sorry, Miki.”

“For what?”

Even when their bodies were vastly different, she still kept the same determination, the same look of compassion he saw from her for as long as he could remember. Tears continued to spill from Akira’s eyes when Miki gave him a gentle smile, and he gestured his hand, flexing his fingers for her to see his claws.

“For… this. For your family, for everyone and _everything_ that happened. I’m so—”

Miki grabbed his hand and he stopped in surprise. The markings on his face, the fangs he revealed and the horns on his head, all were taken in with warmth radiating in her eyes. “You have nothing to apologize for, Akira. Don’t blame yourself for all that had happened when the fault isn’t yours. And like before”—she stepped forward to hug him—“it’s okay to cry.”

The insanity of the physical world, the blood that had spilled and the stolen lives, all seemed to have paused when Akira crouched to hug her. He noticed tears streaming down her cheeks and he tried to keep his cries quiet, but like all the times before, the walls broke down. There he poured his heart out, crying for her, for the people that were once alive, and for how fate played its cards.

Miki listened to him, her voice soft and steady. “You saved me again, you know. You always had but this time you were the actual anchor. Miko passed the baton to me and… now you have it.”

She gasped quietly when she felt Akira’s form shrink and his skin against her face. Akira pulled her close in a tighter embrace, his breathing shallow as he whispered, “I can remain human because you exist. My humanity was based on you, Miki, I just didn’t realize it until now.” He pulled back to smile at her. “The thing I wanted to protect the most was you, after all.”

Someone always had to pass the baton, and Miki returned the smile. She motioned it with her hand, fingers curled and raising it to give it to him. “You may be the anchor but we’re still finishing the race together.”

“Yeah, we are.” Akira curled his fingers to hold the baton, his smile growing. He peered closer at a sparkle on her ear. “And hey, where’d you get the earring?”

“Ah, Wamu gave it to me. He said it’ll protect me if I wear it, but I wanted to lend it to you.”

“To _me_?”

“Well yeah.” Miki tilted her head to remove the earring and on tiptoe, she reached to touch Akira’s ear. “I felt like I wouldn’t see you again, and this is just to be sure that you’ll be safe.”

Akira watched her curiously, feeling the earring settle in with a gentle push of a finger and he touched it when she stepped back. “Think it’ll really work?”

“I can say it worked on me and hey, I am a witch.”

“Heh, the witch and the devil. I’m sure everyone would lose their minds if they thought we were working together or something,” Akira chuckled. His laugh cut short when he glanced around them, not that he hadn’t been mindful of their surroundings but the weight of the grey world crept up on him again.

A soft sigh, a heavy look when Miki followed his gaze. “It’s not the end, Akira. You saved others before, and you saved me so I _know_ you can save everyone else, if not just those who believe in you.”

“You sound so sure… but I have to believe it. I only wish I saved Miko and Wamu a little sooner, and despite all that we’re up against, I think we still have a chance.”

“You mean us finding Ryo?”

Akira’s eyes narrowed at the name. “Ryo… yes. I don’t understand why he exposed me like that or allowed everything to happen but at the same time… We can still fight through this. I want to believe we're still friends and I know we can survive with his help.”

A hesitant pause and after a moment, he tensed and wings sprouted from his back. Although far from angelic, they fluttered in the same delicate matter when they reached their full size. Wings of a monster but with a body full of love, and Miki watched him transform in awe.

While he towered over her, Akira kept a gentle smile when he gave her his hand. “How’s your leg?”

“It’s just a flesh wound, but I’m okay now.” Miki grasped his hand, her feet dangling in the air when he lifted her up. She settled herself comfortably on his back. “Probably better, when I think about it.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

He crouched, a deep breath in, and he jumped up. His body spiraled and at another breath, his wings flared up. Defying gravity for a moment before the world realized a new color in the sky, the breath released and they soared through the sky. The rush of wind on her face, the same sensation she felt whenever she ran and Miki couldn’t help but laugh. A brief moment where they could forget the insanity around them, where they could smile a little at the cold air hitting their faces. Yet after taking in the ruined cities and fire Akira glided over, the smiles grew pained. Miki watched the piles of bodies, the fire licking away anything that held any life to it, and the stranded running far from those who chased after them until they stopped dead after a gunshot.

While they held colors in the grey sky, color drained from their faces at the sight below them. Akira sighed heavily, lamenting thoughts racing through his mind at the possibility that maybe he can save them—that he _could’ve_ saved them. To save more colors in the world if they allowed him to, even when the rest of humanity wanted nothing more than to see the color of his blood on the ground. He was brought back to reality when he felt Miki tighten her hold on him, her face pressing against him.

“Miki?” he softly said.

“Just in case, Akira. And… thank you.”

He hadn’t noticed it before but with her embrace, he felt her heartbeat against him. A strong, steady rhythm—a heart he was able to save—and Akira smiled at the sensation. He did save the most vibrant color of them all, after all.

“I remembered your father’s promise. We’re in this together. _Always_.”

Different in body and yet their hearts remained the same, even more so when tears spilled from both their eyes. Their faces glistened and even when they heard the chaos below them, they kept a bit of faith in the world. If not just hope in those below them, then hope in another person to bring more color in a grey, grey world.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I listened to Crybaby in the OST and almost cried while writing this and rewatching the episode. Just wtf man. They deserve the world and I adored their relationship. ;w;
> 
> You can also find this on my Tumblr [@xenoshadel](http://xenoshadel.tumblr.com/) and I have a [ko-fi page](http://ko-fi.com/A35327K1/) if anyone ever wants to leave me a tip! Thanks for the read! <3


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